Are Teething Tablets Safe?

As a Mother, I want only the best for my child. As I’m sure we all do. And we also, don’t want our baby to suffer through the pain of teething. When my child started to cut teeth, she wouldn’t eat and she didn’t want to sleep. We had to take her to the ER, because we were afraid she was getting dehydrated. It was a rough time for us each tooth that came in. I would know that the nights she would not sleep were the nights that her teeth were cutting through the skin.

So I looked for ways to sooth her pain, and I came across a highly debated topic.. Teething Medicines. Some doctors recommended it, and some do not. Some parents allow it, and some will not. I collected some information and links, so that you will be able to read the ingredients, the doctor opinions, and other Mother’s opinions. As for me, I am not saying one way is right or wrong, every parent has a different parenting style. My opinion will be at the bottom of the page. Read my article "Teething Tips and Remedies"

What are Teething Tablets?

Brands such as Hyland’s and Orajel make Teething Tablets, which are tiny little dissolvable pills that go under your child’s tongue or can be dissolved in their bottles. They are meant to help with your child’s pain due to teething, however, most will say they are homeopathic and contain no pain or numbing medicine.

This link is for the Hyland’s Teething Products and will tell you all the facts about their teething products that you need to know.

What is homeopathic?

“Homeopathy demonstrates that a substance that produces a certain set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure a sick person experiencing those same symptoms. For instance, onions make your eyes water when you cut them. If you have a cold or allergies and your symptoms include a runny nose, the likely remedy to treat your runny nose would be Allium Cepa, which is made from onions.” (hylands.com)

What is the debate about?

Teething tablets, like Hyland’s contain belladonna. Belladonna is a plant that can be poisonous when ingested by the mouth. Some people will think that it is not FDA approved, and because the bottles were recalled in 2010. However, the tablets were voluntarily recalled because there were different amounts of Belladonna in each tablet and they did not have child proof caps. The amount of Belladonna in each tablet is now 0.0000000000003%. Hyland’s says “to further clarify the homeopathic dosages of Belladonna in Baby Teething Tablets, a 10-pound child would have to accidentally ingest, all at the same time, more than a dozen bottles of 135 Baby Teething Tablets before experiencing even dry mouth from the product.”

This link will tell you about Belladonna, what it is, what is it used for in medicine, and the effectiveness of is.

This link will take you to FDA’s statement about Hyland’s Teething Tablet’s when they were recalled in 2010.

This link will take you to Hyland’s statement from when it was recalled.

What are other Mom’s saying about these products?

You can read the comments below, as well as my own opinion on teething tablets.

This link will take you to a Circle of Mom’s forum about using teething tablets.

This is a good current article that about teething that also says that Orajel for babies was recalled.

My opinion:

As a Mother I wanted my daughter to be comfortable. I used the Hyland’s teething tablets, and found them to work wonderful! I researched them and talked to my child’s Pediatrician before giving them to her. I did have one person who called me out as a bad mom because I recommended them to someone she knew. Well, this lady, who I don’t know, said it was putting unnecessary ingredients into my child’s body. She also, informed me that the product was recalled, but she had the reason wrong, which I had already known because I have looked it up. When another Mother asks my opinion on anything, I will always say the same thing.. "this is what I did, but Mommy knows best, so do what is best for your child". I am not judging any parent, this is just my opinion. And unlike the woman, who claimed to have a 20-something year old child that she never gave medicine to, but just let them “suffer through it”, I can realize that different people have different opinions and I am not trying to force mine onto anyone.

My Mother and Mother-In-Law have both tried to tell me things that they did. But as I tell them, we are rapidly advancing in technology and medicine from 20 or 30 years ago. So if there was a medicine that could give my child some comfort, help her eat, and get both of us some sleep, I would look into it.

The medicine worked great for me. I would give her some at night when it was the worst, and some when she woke up during the night sometimes. These let her sleep good and be comfortable. She had stopped eating, because it hurt so bad, and we were almost hospitalized for dehydration. But after giving her these, we never had another problem.

If you have used any type of teething tablet or teething gel, or have an opinion on why you didn’t, PLEASE COMMENT! I want other Mom’s to read what another Mom has experienced. You can also, leave links to any pages you found that were helpful in making your decision. Thank You!

Tips For First Time Dad's

Remember those baby books your husband never read? Or those classes that he would rather have stayed home and watched football than go to? Yea, me too. The truth is we as Mother’s spend 9 months preparing for the baby. We budget our finances, we buy the crib and diapers, we take Lamaze classes, we read numerous articles, we talk to other Mom’s and ask for advice, WE PREPARE. Most guys aren’t like us, they won’t read the books and they won’t feel prepared. If your husband is the guy that reads the baby books, consider yourself lucky. Do you blame them, though? After all, you will be the one going through labor, which the anticipation of the most painful day of your life can make you want to be as prepared as you can be.

You know that saying.. “Women become Mother’s when they find out they are pregnant, and men become Father’s when the baby is born.”

It’s true. For some men, it will take a week or a month for those “daddy instincts” to kick in. These are a few tips for new Daddy’s. If your hubby won’t read this, just try to explain these things to him. Good Luck!

1. Take Time Off Work. Be prepared to leave work for at least a week. You will need to be there when your wife and baby are in the hospital. It is also important for you to spend bonding time with your baby. Take a week to help the mommy out and get to know your little baby.

2. Stay At The Hospital. For all that she just went through, don’t leave your wife alone while you go home and sleep. If you have kids try to get someone to watch the while you’re at the hospital.

3. Clean Up Around The House. A new mom will be going through a lot. They will need to rest and recover from labor. She won’t have time to do the laundry, vacuum, do the dishes, or take care of any pets you have. Her time needs to be dedicated to learning how to take care of her baby, bonding with her baby and recovering from labor. If you are horrible at cleaning, or just hate it, try buying disposable dishes so you don’t have to do the dishes.

4. Get Her Food. A new mom shouldn’t drive for 6-7 weeks after labor. Go to the store for her, ask her what she wants and make sure to pick up lots of food. A breastfeeding mom needs to eat just as much as a pregnant woman. She is still eating for two, if she’s breastfeeding! Make sure she has time to eat, watch the bay for her so she can relax and eat dinner. If all else fails, order take out!

5. Offer to Help. There might not be much you can do, but always ask. Even the little things count, so if she asks you to just hand her things or wash her breast pump for her, do it. Trust me, she will be exhausted.

6. Take the Night Feeding. If you are bottle feeding your baby, try to take turns during night feedings. Everyone needs sleep! If you are breast feeding, ask if she can pump before she goes to bed, so you have one bottle for a night feeding.

7. Bond with Your Baby. You may not think that they will remember this, but bonding as a baby is very important. It lets the baby know, that you will meet their needs too, not just mommy. Take the baby and let the new mommy get a nap, or a shower, or go out by herself for an hour (even if it is just to the grocery store). Take these opportunities as bonding time with your baby.

8. Be Prepared to Make Emergency Store Runs. Even if that means going in the middle of night. Trust me, there will be a time when your wife or the baby needs something now and you need to go get it. Be prepared to buy the stool softeners, pads, diapers, or diaper rash cream.

9. Be Supportive. If all else fails, be supportive. A new mom might cry, or be mad, or be stressed.. just go with it. Be there, be supportive. Don’t argue with her. Even you being next to her will probably make her feel better. Talk to her; ask her how her day was. Take her for a date night when you’re ready to leave the baby. But the most important thing to remember is to be supportive!  

I would love for you to comment! What is your best advice for a first time dad? 

Cool Whip Paint Play

 I had no idea just how many toys I would buy within my daughters first 2 years, and I’m only half way through! It never really occurred to me when buying these toys that she would grow out of them within weeks. I never used that swing I got, she hated it.  I got super excited when she started holding her teething toys and went out and bought a ton of them. She had her favorite one or two, and the rest hardly got used. The Bumbo was useful, but only for the first few months. The walker I bought, she will probably never push again since she can run perfectly fine, that lasted about 3 weeks. Basically, there are toys for every developmental stage, and the older she gets, the more toys there will be. My living room has now become a bright play room.

I was going through Emma’s toys the other day, seeing what I could get rid of. She didn’t like this one bit. She held out her little hand to the 7 or 8 toys I had collected and looked at me like “Excuse me, those are mine”. I told her they were baby toys and she was too big for them, but I guess she had to see for herself. I handed the first toy to her, a teething ring, she looked at it and threw it on the ground, holding her hand out for the next one. We went through all the teething toys, rattles, wrist bracelets and car seat toys, with her throwing each one onto the floor. Then when there were no more toys in my hand, she walked off and went to go play with one of her “big girl” toys. Just for a laugh, I picked her up and put her in that saucer that sits in the corner and we haven’t used in months. I put her in there and my little girl acted like I just put in her jail. She tried to get and out and the started to whimper, tried to get out again and then let out her big “I’m really mad now” scream. She was only in there for about 45 seconds..

Now, that I’m mostly past that “Everything I find will go into my mouth” stage, I’m excited to try some of the sensory activities with her that we can do together. Most of these are fun dollar store activities. I found this cool whip paint play on Pinterest, and since it was fine even if she did eat it, we tried it. I did this activity when Emma was almost 11 months old. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but that was probably because I was scared she was going to get the paint everywhere, and she was mixing all the colors, that the paint turned black, and I was scared it was going to stain her skin. I loved this, and we will definitely be doing this again, with one thing different. I recommend doing this in the bathtub, it gets messy! I definitely didn’t like cleaning black, blue, and pink paint off my couch and floor!

Here’s what you need:

Lite Cool Whip (just in case they eat some), Food Coloring, Muffin Pan

We did this in the living room and I just laid a towel down to catch any mess. I gave her a spoon, the cutest little girls 1^st spatula and a silicone basting brush. I highly recommend doing this in the bathtub. 

Trust me, it gets messy! 

And here is where we ended.; when the paint started to turn black, and she decided to eat it.

There is another variation I have heard of before for older kids. It uses shaving cream instead of whip cream. But whatever you use, I hope you had fun with you kids, I know I did!